Process and method for uniform maintenance for conveyance apparatuses

ABSTRACT

A system and a process are provided for uniformly recording and storing compliance and maintenance information independent of specific conveyance apparatus service provider. Such a system and a process assists the jurisdiction and all parties involved in these service areas with documenting all work performed, documenting work that needs to be performed, accessing the necessary information to make sure the work is performed properly and timely, and enforcing the scheduled maintenance requirements for the conveyance apparatus to reduce liability for the parties responsible for the maintenance.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. Non-Provisional applicationSer. No. 15/859,127, filed Dec. 29, 2017, which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/440,398, filed Dec. 29, 2016, which areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The overall field of the invention is distribution of safety andcompliance information. More specifically, the present invention is aprocess and system for storing safety maintenance and complianceinformation for conveyance means and means of enforcing the safetymaintenance and compliance information.

BACKGROUND

Every three days human conveyance apparatus move the world's population.Human conveyance apparatuses such as elevators, escalators, man lifts,material lifts, moving walkways, and all other permanent vertical andhorizontal transportation options are incorporated into most if not allbuildings in modern times to allow for quicker transportation betweenfloors, but also to allow those who are not able to use stairs to gainaccess to the same areas as those who can. With the increase in use ofthese conveyance means, there has been an increase to make sure thatthey are all safe and maintained properly to reduce the possibility ofserious injury to the occupants and those around them.

Modern buildings often have multiple conveyance apparatuses. Each ofthose conveyance apparatuses has unique conveyance technology, initialquality, complexity, age, frequency of use, maintenance history, etc. Itis crucial therefore to incorporate all the information unique to thespecific conveyance apparatus in scheduling various maintenanceintervals in order to guarantee the safe operation of the conveyanceapparatus.

In addition, those conveyance apparatuses are installed and/ormaintained by different manufacturers and service providers. Theirmaintenance data of one conveyance apparatus are proprietary to thespecific service provider that maintains the conveyance apparatus, andsuch data are incompatible with the maintenance data of other conveyanceapparatus maintained by a different service provider. When the owner ofa building wants to retrieve information about the conveyanceapparatuses within the building, the owner must rely on the serviceproviders of the conveyance apparatuses to retrieve maintenance data.And once the maintenance service contract between the building owner andthe service provider expires and is no longer extended, the buildingowner risks losing access to his or her conveyance apparatuses, becausethe maintenance data of those conveyance apparatuses remain proprietaryto the service provider. This prohibits building owners from keepingtimely maintenance data about the owner's own conveyance apparatuses.

Additionally, in some cases such as where emergency maintenance isneeded, other technicians not affiliated with the contracted serviceprovider may be brought in to work on conveyance apparatuses, and theirmaintenance work may not be properly recorded and updated on themaintenance data held by the service provider. This lack of record isnot beneficial to technicians, either, because their work hours andcompensation may not be properly documented and calculated.

Moreover, municipalities, state governments, national governments andother enforcement authorities impose different regulations on conveyanceapparatuses that are scattered all over the world, so that it becomes atime-consuming, daunting task to keep conveyance apparatuses indifferent locations in compliance with different regulations. From thepoint of government officials enforcing compliance with regulations onbuilding owners, assessing compliance or violation of differentconveyance apparatuses is also a daunting task and may result inaccurateassessment, because the government official does not have direct accessto the maintenance data and should rely on the paperwork provided by thebuilding owner or its service provider. This poses a potential risk ofinjuries or deaths of many people caused by poorly maintained conveyanceapparatuses.

Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide building owners with auniform platform to control the maintenance of conveyance apparatusesthat may be accessible to all interested parties including buildingowners, service providers, technicians, unions, and governments ofdifferent jurisdictions. It would also be beneficial to provide such auniform platform that customizes the maintenance intervals in compliancewith various regulations of conveyance apparatuses having uniqueconditions and automatically alerts the building owner of variousmaintenance schedules.

SUMMARY

It is therefore the object of the present invention to create a systemthat is uniform across all interested parties. A predetermined algorithmautomatically calculates an optimum, compliant maintenance schedule foreach conveyance apparatus based on the model, age and environmentconditions so that there is less opportunity for these conveyanceapparatuses to miss their scheduled maintenance and as a result reducethe possibility for entrapment, accidents, and other safety relatedissues to all the users of the device.

The present invention is designed to take the current documenting systemto another level by incorporating all parties involved in a singlesystem that tracks all necessary and important information related tothe conveyance apparatuses. This creates a more transparent and uniformdocketing system which will result in all parties operating at theirmost efficient.

Each interested parties are given different levels of access and rightsto the data stored in the system. Using this system, a building owner ora maintenance company takes full control of all the maintenance storedin one place without having to turn to a different maintenance companyfor each conveyance apparatus. Technicians can access one system toinspect, repair and update the conditions of many different conveyanceapparatuses instead of having to use different formats for differentconveyance apparatuses.

This system also provides a uniform system for government officials indifferent jurisdictions so that they can have limited access to thesystem and retrieve compliance data tailored to the differentrequirements and formats. A union is also allowed access to the systemto retrieve the union workers' timesheets and/or working hours.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a computing environment, in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 depicts a flowchart of the program operating within theenvironment of FIG. 1, in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the Summary above, this Detailed Description, the Claims below, andin the accompanying drawings, reference is made to features of theinvention. It is to be understood that the disclosure of the inventionin this specification includes all possible combinations of suchfeatures. For example, where a feature is disclosed in the context of anaspect or embodiment of the invention, or a claim, that feature can alsobe used—to the extent possible—in combination with and/or in the contextof other aspects and embodiments of the invention, and in the invention,generally.

The term “comprises” and grammatical equivalents thereof are used hereinto mean that other components, ingredients, steps, etc. are optionallypresent. For example, an article “comprising” (or “which comprises”)components A, B, and C can consist of (i.e., contain only) components A,B, and C, or can contain not only components A, B, and C but alsocontain one or more other components.

Where reference is made herein to a method comprising two or moredefined steps, the defined steps can be carried out in any order orsimultaneously (except where the context excludes that possibility), andthe method can include one or more other steps which are carried outbefore any of the defined steps, between two of the defined steps, orafter all the defined steps (except where the context excludes thatpossibility).

The term “at least” followed by a number is used herein to denote thestart of a range including that number (which may be a range having anupper limit or no upper limit, depending on the variable being defined).For example, “at least 1” means 1 or more than 1. The term “at most”followed by a number is used herein to denote the end of a range,including that number (which may be a range having 1 or 0 as its lowerlimit, or a range having no lower limit, depending upon the variablebeing defined). For example, “at most 4” means 4 or less than 4, and “atmost 40%” means 40% or less than 40%. When, in this specification, arange is given as “(a first number) to (a second number)” or “(a firstnumber)−(a second number),” this means a range whose limits include bothnumbers. For example, “25 to 100” means a range whose lower limit is 25and upper limit is 100, and includes both 25 and 100.

There currently exists a need for recording and keeping compliance andmaintenance information for conveyance apparatuses independent ofservice providers. As used herein, the “conveyance” or “conveyanceapparatuses” refer to elevators, escalators, man lifts, dumb waits,material lifts, moving walkways, and all other permanent vertical andhorizontal transportation options.

In some embodiments, a system and a process are provided for uniformlyrecording and storing compliance and maintenance information independentof specific conveyance apparatus service provider. Such a system and aprocess assists the jurisdiction and all parties involved in theseservice areas with documenting all work performed, documenting work thatneeds to be performed, accessing the necessary information to make surethe work is performed properly and timely, and enforcing the scheduledmaintenance requirements for the conveyance apparatus to reduceliability for the parties responsible for the maintenance. Such a systemand a process assist in creating an open and transparent system forcommunication and operations and promotes sharing relevant informationwith consumers, subscribers, and the government. Some embodiments alsoprovide a data collection, retention, and distribution system that ismore accurate and up-to-date than the currently existing systems.

The system and the process will compile information on and track allmaintenance, repairs, modernizations, upgrades, service and inspectionsas required by existing codes and will be expandable to include new andupdated code compliance as established by jurisdictions. The historicaldata will come from existing physical and digital information as itexists. The information will undergo a process of digital scanning andcoding which will convert it to new formats compatible with the program.In some embodiments, the scanning is performed by the techniciansthemselves. In additional embodiments, the scanning is performed by athird party, such as a contractor or sub-contractor. As new data iscreated, it will be entered the program from individual conveyances attheir physical location or via digital downloads. The system and theprocess will store, manage and track the data and can create an eventcalendar to notify subscribers of current equipment status, beginningand completion of maintenance and repair tasks, past due, pending andfuture compliance issues/concerns, safety requirements and provideconsequences of non-compliance and correction requirements andpenalties.

The process starts with a “learning” algorithm which creates weightedalgorithms using manufacturer, maintenance provider and jurisdictionalcriteria entered. These algorithms will develop maintenance requirementsthat meet and exceed all manufacturer, jurisdictional and contractrequirements for any conveyance. Additional criteria then will beintroduced to develop new opportunities for monitoring and reportingmaintenance. As the system matures, the complexity of the software andalgorithms increase to provide results as required

The system and the process will have multiple levels of access thatsubscribers and jurisdictions can purchase, with security levelsreserved for local, state and federal jurisdictions. The currentphysical maintenance, testing, repair and compliance forms, logs will beduplicated in a digital format that will be accessed using a unique login and password. Subscribers will have the ability to select the levelof information they choose for the information they want whereby theinformation will be filtered and presented to the subscribers throughvarious different user platforms and presentations. As maintenancetasks, safety inspections, call backs, repairs, modernizations, upgradesare completed, the technician(s), mechanics, inspectors will documenttasks and status via the electronic collection device. Upon log out/off,the information will be uploaded to the main server/storage deviceprocessed and made available for distribution.

The system and the process are capable of tracking real labor hoursagainst projected labor hours and predicting labor requirements forcurrent and future maintenance labor requirements. This laborcalculation can be used by labor unions, bargaining units, maintenancecompanies, building owners, building managers, property managementcompanies, inspection companies, governing jurisdictions and others asrequirements are identified. As the program will track all informationas entered in real time, inspection companies and jurisdictions scheduleinspections efficiently and track compliance by multiple variables.

The program also has an integrated enforcement/penalty feature that isactivated when a conveyance apparatus is not properly maintained. Theenforcement/penalty may be a fine, a license suspension, or ceasing theoperation of the application or conveyance apparatus until the necessarywork has been performed whereby a signal is transmitted to theconveyance apparatus automatically and it will only be active once oneor more criteria has been met. In some embodiments, theenforcement/penalty is assessed from the date of the infraction. In someembodiments, the enforcement/penalty is assessed from the date ofdiscovery. In additional embodiments, the enforcement/penalty has apredetermined warning period applied in which to allow the appropriateparty to correct the error. The suspension or fine may be transmittedautomatically or manually through the application as well as physicalmail once a variation is detected whereby the application may beunlocked until the user has remedied the violation. In furtherembodiments the presentation displayed to the subscribers may be alteredbased on the fine or suspension whereby they may have one or morerestrictions or adjustments. In some non-limiting embodiments, theviolation may be presented in the language of the user based on the GPSof the computing device. When the system automatically unlocks on afirst computing device because of a violation a signal may be sent toanother computing device of a secondary user who would now be in chargeof the conveyance apparatus whereby they would be granted thepriviledges.

These enforcements and penalties may be set by the regulations relatedto the devices, state laws, federal laws, or the like. For example,Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and CongressionalStandards Committee may set forth the laws and rules related to thedevices.

This system that is accessible by all parties allows jurisdictions toidentify trends and potential concerns by any of the previouslymentioned attributes. Due to this the information and format will bestored in a standardized format even though received from differenttypes of computing devices and apparatuses, the conclusions ofinspectors and alternate means of inspection (3rd party inspectioncompanies) will have the same level of accountability. The program willprovide extensive inspection requirements to labor organizationsallowing improved training and qualification programs. This willinfluence the number of qualified labor pool applications and apprenticeopportunities. Jurisdictions, through the system are able to orderreports to validate compliance vs the current physical inspection todetermine compliance whereby the reports may be automatically ormanually transmitted to them through an application or web interface,email, text, or through physical mail.

The program will also create a searchable system that can identifyspecific attributes such as but not limited to conveyance number,equipment manufacturer, property manager, building owner, propertymanagement company, maintenance company, inspection company, insurancecompany, maintenance technician, city, state, zip code, date range,union or non-union maintenance company. In some embodiments, additionalinformation such as building owners, building managers, jurisdiction,past accidents, past faults, and other information that is relevant toeach conveyance apparatus.

The program capabilities will extend to compliance enforcement. In thiscapacity, on behalf of all parties including jurisdictions, the programwill be able to access penalties for non-compliance, issue citations andprovide information and means for collection of monetary penalties. Insome embodiments, the requirements and standards are based on A17.1maintenance control criteria which is the international code regulatingall vertical transportation. This code relates to the time framesrequired to complete each task, the schedule for completing the tasksand the like. In additional embodiments, the information is based onother maintenance control criteria set by a governing body.

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a computing environment 100 inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 providesan illustration of one embodiment and does not imply any limitationsregarding the environment in which different embodiments maybeimplemented. In the depicted embodiment, computing environment 100includes network 102, sever 104, union computing device 110, insurancecomputing device 112, technician computing device 114, maintenancecompany computing device 116, building owner computing device 118, andgovernment computing device 120. Computing environment 100 may includeadditional servers, computers, or other devices not shown.

Network 102 may be a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN)such as the Internet, any combination thereof, or any combination ofconnections and protocols that can support communications between sever104, union computing device 110, insurance computing device 112,technician computing device 114, maintenance company computing device116, building owner computing device 118, and government computingdevice 120. Network 102 may include wired, wireless, or fiber opticconnections.

Server 104 may be a management server, a web server, or any otherelectronic device or computing system capable of processing programinstructions and receiving and sending data. In some embodiments, server104 may be a laptop computer, tablet computer, netbook computer,personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, or any programmableelectronic device capable of communicating with the union computingdevice 110, the insurance computing device 112, the technician computingdevice 114, the maintenance company computing device 116, the buildingowner computing device 118, and the government computing device 120 vianetwork 102. In other embodiments, server 104 may represent a servercomputing system utilizing multiple computers as a server system, suchas in a cloud computing environment. In another embodiment, server 104represents a computing system utilizing clustered computers andcomponents to act as a single pool of seamless resources. In thedepicted embodiment, server 104 includes maintenance program 106 anddatabase 108. In other embodiments, server 104 may include anycombination of maintenance program 106 and database 108 as well asvarious modules stored in database 108 to conduct various activityrelated to the system. Modules may use various automatic algorithmsthrough various computing devices and server 104 to provide variousfunctionality such as one or more algorithms to check lists created perapparatus referencing unique conveyance attributes.

Server 104 may have a safety code conveyance compliance documentationssystem SCCCDS module for referencing documents provided by themanufacturer, applicable codes, environmental conditions, verified useand age of apparatus for each design of any apparatus system,sub-system, component, or function that outlines how conveyancecompliance and safety is achieved. This module utilizes an logarithmsalgorithm for the transition of numbers and the unique Alpha/Numericalsystem assigned to each convenance apparatus. Reports developed in theSCCCDS module, allow for unique data capture customizable to eachsubscriber or user.

Server 104 may have a memory zone maintenance (MZM) module for learningfrom past information utilizing data for future features, whereby thevarious connected computing devices runs a peeling algorithm, for thesafe use of transport apparatus, or any machine-to-machinecommunication.

Server 104 may have a maintenance equipment requirement's (MER) modulethat is used classify equipment, by building data trees and processanalysis algorithm flow charts, that will store info from the past &future maintenance tasks, required by Big Data. Server 104 may have oneor more modules to receive data from one or more sensors on conveyanceapparatus and translate it into code suitable for one or more databases.

Databases 108 may be a repository that may be written to and/or read bymaintenance program 106. Information gathered from maintenance program106 may be stored to database 108. Such information may includecompliance information, maintenance information, maintenance schedules,maintenance manuals, and other relevant information about the specificconveyance apparatus that is necessary to meet the compliance andmaintenance standards and requirements. In one embodiment, database 108is a database management system (DBMS) used to allow the definition,creation, querying, update, and administration of a database(s). In thedepicted embodiment, database 108 resides on server 104. In otherembodiments, database 104 resides on another server, or anothercomputing device, if database 104 is accessible to the union computingdevice 110, the insurance computing device 112, the technician computingdevice 114, the maintenance company computing device 116, the buildingowner computing device 118, and the government computing device 120. Inother embodiments, database 108 stores all the necessary maintenancecriteria, such as A17.1 MCP for the union computing device 110, theinsurance computing device 112, the technician computing device 114, themaintenance company computing device 116, the building owner computingdevice 118, and the government computing device 120 to access. In one ormore embodiments information may be stored on multiple databases 108 foreach of the conveyance apparatus, the type of conveyance apparatus, ormodel of conveyance apparatus.

Maintenance program 106 operates to gather, store, manage, process,distribute, analyze, categorize, determine, and then providepredetermined information to each party involved in the maintenance andcompliance process of the specific conveyance apparatus. In oneembodiment, this information is stored on database 108. In the depictedembodiment, maintenance program 106 is located on server 104 andutilizes network 102 to communicate with the union computing device 110,the insurance computing device 112, the technician computing device 114,the maintenance company computing device 116, the building ownercomputing device 118, the government computing device 120, or variousother computing devices.

In one embodiment, maintenance program 106 resides on the building ownercomputing device 118. In other embodiments, maintenance program 106resides on another server or computing device, provided maintenanceprogram 106 has access to database 108, the union computing device 110,the insurance computing device 112, the technician computing device 114,the maintenance company computing device 116, the building ownercomputing device 118, and the government computing device 120. Thevarious computing devices may conect to a cloud base/go computing systemon the server which allows for Big Data (BD), Data mining (DM), andMachine Learning (ML), which has created the Data-Driven maintenancesystem (DDMS). Computing devices may run an encrypt match algorithm tocreates code language for the system.

Union computing device 110 may be a desktop computer, laptop computer,tablet computer, netbook computer, personal computer (PC), a desktopcomputer, mobile device, or any programmable electronic device capableof communicating via network 102 under the philosophy of internet ofthings. In other embodiments, union computing device 110 may be anyelectronic device or computing system capable of sending and receivingdata, and communicating with server 104, the insurance computing device112, the technician computing device 114, the maintenance companycomputing device 116, the building owner computing device 118, and thegovernment computing device 120 via network 102.

Insurance computing device 112 may be a desktop computer, laptopcomputer, tablet computer, netbook computer, personal computer (PC), adesktop computer, mobile device, or any programmable electronic devicecapable of communicating via network 102. In other embodiments,insurance computing device 112 may be any electronic device or computingsystem capable of sending and receiving data, and communicating withserver 104, the union computing device 110, the technician computingdevice 114, the maintenance company computing device 116, the buildingowner computing device 118, and the government computing device 120 vianetwork 102.

Technician computing device 114 may be a desktop computer, laptopcomputer, tablet computer, netbook computer, personal computer (PC), adesktop computer, mobile device, or any programmable electronic devicecapable of communicating via network 102. In other embodiments,technician computing device 114 may be any electronic device orcomputing system capable of sending and receiving data, andcommunicating with server 104, the union computing device 110, theinsurance computing device 112, the maintenance company computing device116, the building owner computing device 118, and the governmentcomputing device 120 via network 102.

Maintenance company computing device 116 may be a desktop computer,laptop computer, tablet computer, netbook computer, personal computer(PC), a desktop computer, mobile device, or any programmable electronicdevice capable of communicating via network 102. In other embodiments,maintenance company computing device 116 may be any electronic device orcomputing system capable of sending and receiving data, andcommunicating with server 104, the union computing device 110, theinsurance computing device 112, the technician computing device 114, thebuilding owner computing device 118, and the government computing device120 via network 102.

Building owner computing device 116 may be a desktop computer, laptopcomputer, tablet computer, netbook computer, personal computer (PC), adesktop computer, mobile device, or any programmable electronic devicecapable of communicating via network 102. In other embodiments, buildingowner computing device 116 may be any electronic device or computingsystem capable of sending and receiving data, and communicating withserver 102, the union computing device 108, the technician computingdevice 110, the insurance computing device 112, the maintenance companycomputing device 114, and the government computing device 118 vianetwork 102.

Government computing device 120 may be a desktop computer, laptopcomputer, tablet computer, netbook computer, personal computer (PC), adesktop computer, mobile device, or any programmable electronic devicecapable of communicating via network 102. In other embodiments,government computing device 120 may be any electronic device orcomputing system capable of sending and receiving data, andcommunicating with server 104, the union computing device 110, theinsurance computing device 112, the technician computing device 114, themaintenance company computing device 116, and the building ownercomputing device 118 via network 102.

FIG. 2 depicts a flowchart 200 of maintenance program 106, executingwithin the computing environment 100 of FIG. 1, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

In step 202, when a user logs in to the maintenance program 106, themaintenance program 106 receives a user identification, or user ID. Ifthe user ID entered by the user does not match one of the user IDsstored in the database 108, the maintenance program 106 refuses the userto login. A user may be a technician, maintenance company, buildingowner/manager, government official, union, insurance company, or anyother entity that may be reasonably required for the maintenance ofconveyance apparatuses. As used herein, the “union” refers to qualifiedpersonnel in a labor organization.

In one embodiment, the user is permitted to log in using a designatedroute. When the user logs in, the maintenance program 106 records theuser ID, time of login, date of login, as well as the location of theuser based on global positioning system (hereinafter “GPS”) and thelike. In additional embodiments, the user is permitted to log in on site(at the location of the specific conveyance apparatus). When the userlogs in on-site, the maintenance program 106 records similar informationto the log in on their designated route, including, the name of thebuilding or store they logged in from and the like. The locating of theuser may be performed by the scanning of a bar code or electronicproduct coding at the conveyance apparatus, radio frequencyidentification, received signal strength indication, or other means todetermine the location of the user now and which could be developed.

In step 204, the maintenance program 106 then checks from the database108 the user's level of authorization to access and/or alter thedatabase 108. The levels of authorization to access and/or alter thedatabase 108 are predetermined, and such information is stored in thedatabase 108. The predetermined levels of authorization may representdifferent levels of authorization to access and alter for technicians,maintenance companies, building owners/managers, government officials,union, or insurance companies. For example, a technician may enterand/or alter information such as inspection data, repair data, number ofhours worked on a specific conveyance apparatus. A government officialmay have access to the compliance data of a specific conveyanceapparatus in a specific jurisdiction. A building owner or maintenancecompany personnel may have access to and right to alter all theinformation in the database 108 regarding the conveyance apparatuses heor she manages.

In step 206, maintenance program 106 receives from the user the name oridentification of the conveyance apparatus to which the user wants tohave access. At the same time or in subsequent order, the user alsoenters some parameters related to the conveyance apparatus. Theparameters for the conveyance apparatus may differ in each transaction.For example, a technician may enter information such as inspection data,repair data, number of hours worked on a specific conveyance apparatus.A government official may enter a jurisdiction in which the specificconveyance apparatus is located. A building owner may enter any inquiryto gain access to the maintenance history or any violation of laws andregulations. System may use one or more logarithms algorithm for thetransition of numbers.

Initially, a building owner or maintenance company may enter the initialconditions of the conveyance apparatuses. Each conveyance apparatus mayhave a unique proprietary software pre-loaded with its conditions.Beneficially, maintenance program 106 provides an algorithm thatautomatically translates the conditions in the format of the proprietarysoftware into the format for the database 108 from various computingdevices.

In step 208, maintenance program 106 identifies the type of theconveyance apparatus from the list of types of conveyance apparatusesstored the database 108. Depending on different types, conveyanceapparatuses may have a very broad spectrum of information. For example,the number and kind of items and parts to be inspected, repaired orreplaced may be different for different types of conveyance apparatuses.In one embodiment, once the type of the conveyance apparatus isidentified, the user is presented with the list of items and parts toinspect, repair or replace in real time so that the overall time for theuser to spent on maintenance may be reduced.

All subscribers may receive “real-time” notifications on an apparatuscompliance and have access to historical information as requested.Information provided will create “proactive” maintenance options forsubscribers who currently only have a “reactive” option to maintenanceand public safety whereby the system uses an automatic algorithm methodfor real time notifications.

In step 210, maintenance program 106 retrieves from the database 108 theparameters available for the type of the conveyance apparatus previouslyidentified in step 208. In step 212, maintenance program 106 generatesone or more maintenance data. The maintenance data may include, but arenot limited to, one or more of the following: inspection intervals forcertain inspection items in compliance with governing laws andregulations, the estimated times required for a technician to completethe inspection items, repair notifications, compliance history ofspecific conveyance apparatuses, current compliance status of theconveyance apparatuses, and a compliance report for governmentofficials. A predetermined algorithm stored in the server 104 calculatesthe optimum, compliant maintenance intervals based on a variety offactors including, but not limited to, the serial number, manufacturerand model of the conveyance apparatus, the year produced, the yearinstalled on the current location, the frequency of use, thejurisdiction in which the conveyance apparatus is located, and theenvironmental exposure. In some embodiments, big data informationaccumulated from the use of a specific model of conveyance apparatusenables a more accurate and efficient suggestion of inspection andrepair schedules, because the knowledge of actual wear and tear of theparts in the conveyance apparatus becomes more accurate.

Depending on the level of authorization given to the user, the user maybe allowed to obtain different kinds of maintenance data. For example, agovernment official may only be able to access compliance-related data.In this case, the predetermined algorithm stored in the server 104populates the compliance-related data in a form required by thejurisdiction in which the conveyance apparatus is located. Differenceforms required by different jurisdictions are stored in the database 108so that the building owner or the maintenance company does not have toprepare different forms every time a government official from adifferent jurisdiction requires a compliance report. A union may be ableto access the timesheet of each technician who worked on the conveyanceapparatuses. A building owner and/or the maintenance company may haveaccess to all of the above. The predetermined algorithm may also providethe building owner and/or the maintenance company alerts on upcomingmaintenance schedules for specific conveyance apparatuses.

A non-exhaustive list of potential places where non-compliance issuesmay be found are, but not limited to, visual inspection of controller,inspecting the cleanliness of controller and components, controlcircuits, relaying, contacts and shunts inspection, inspecting theconditions of motor starter contacts, fuses, holders and overloads,inspecting the conditions of connections, control wiring, terminals,printed circuit boards and the cleanliness of machine room, maintainingoil in tank at proper levels, inspecting pressure tanks, valve, pump,vic fitting for leaks, belt condition and tension, code data plate,mechanical selector, sheaves and tape/cables, riding the car for properoperation, testing safety edge light ray detector and emergency stopswitch alarm bell, inspecting floor level, testing communication system,inspecting signals and buttons, testing emergency light, testing doorclosing force, inspecting door operator, door clutch, restrictor,jack/packing, pit, buffers and the top of car, cleaning car top,inspecting door hangers, tracks, door rollers, up thrust, doorinterlocks, pick-up rollers, closer, sills and gibs, rails, hoists, thewear and insulation on traveling cables, limit switches, hoist ropes,sheaves, safeties, tags, lube, the cleanliness of bi-parting freightdoor/tracks, grease or oil guide rails, lude, grease bearings,indicating light, lanterns, gongs, hall button operations, mainlinefuse/breaker/terminal connection, intercom system, relief valve setting,system pressure adjustment, hydraulic cylinder, pressurizing pipingmaintenance, terminal stopping device check, governors, over-speedswitch, seal maintenance and oil buffer maintenance, testing firefighterand emergency operation, testing standby power operation, poweroperation of door system and emergency terminal speed reducing devices,inspecting low oil protection maintenance and flexible hose, replacingfitting assembly, maintaining pressure switch and pressure vessel,repairing roped hydros, maintaining overspeed valve, and the like.

In step 214, the maintenance data generated in step 212 is stored in thedatabase 108. And in step 216, the retrieved archived parameters in step210 are updated reflecting the user input parameters entered by theuser. For example, after a technician finishes an inspection and/orrepair task, the archived parameters are updated, including but notlimited to, the conditions of the conveyance apparatus, the date ofinspection/repair, the duration of such inspection/repair, replacedparts.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory computer readable medium storinga program with instructions providing a uniform conveyance maintenancesystem comprising: a conveyance transport apparatus, the conveyancetransport apparatus having software with one or more conditions; acomputing system configured for communication between one or morecomputing devices having, a server, and the conveyance apparatus; adatabase on the server, in communication with the computing system, thedatabase configured to store maintenance input data of the conveyancetransport apparatus and track the maintenance input data in real time,the one or more conditions of the conveyance transport apparatustranslated into a format for the database using an algorithm; one ormore non-transitory computer readable program storage media storinginstructions to instruct one or more processors, in communication withthe computing system, wherein instructions are executed by the computingsystem to perform: receiving from a user a user identification;identifying an input conveyance type corresponding to input conveyanceidentification from a list of conveyance types in the database;retrieving one or more archived parameters of the input conveyance typefrom the database; categorizing the user based on at least one user typeof the user, the categorization of the user stored on the databasewherein the processors check the database to determine authorizationlevel of the user based on the type of the user; categorizing themaintenance input data based on the type of the user, the categorizationof the maintenance input data stored on the database; authorizingaccess, over a network, accessibility to the maintenance input datadetermined by the authorization level of the user and alter the databasedepending on the user identification; generating one or more maintenancecompliance data by an algorithm using the input conveyance type, themaintenance input data, and the one or more archived parameters of theinput conveyance type; and storing the one or more maintenancecompliance data in the database.
 2. The system of claim 1, whereininstructions are executed by the computing system are to furtherperform: analyzing the stored maintenance compliance data in thedatabase on the server associated with the user to determine one or moreactions based on the maintenance compliance data and at least theidentified present location of the user determined by a globalpositioning system (GPS), in communication with the one or morecomputing devices, that is configured to identify a present location ofa user; generating at least one notification based on the one or moreactions based on the maintenance compliance data, wherein thenotification is a violation enforcement, a license suspension, orceasing the operation of the conveyance transport apparatus until anynecessary work has been performed; and populating a compliance formrequired by the jurisdiction based on at least the identified presentlocation of the conveyance transport apparatus, wherein the complianceform is stored in the one or more databases.
 3. The system of claim 2,wherein instructions are executed by the computing system are to furtherperform: receiving electronic product coding, wherein the electronicproduct coding is used to identify the user as being physically within apredetermined distance from a location of the conveyance transportapparatus.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein instructions are executedby the computing system are to further perform: receiving signalstrength indication to determine the location of the user with respectto the conveyance apparatus.
 5. The system of claim 2, wherein thedatabase includes a manufacturer, a year, a frequency of use, anenvironmental exposure, an inspection history, a repair history, and awork duration history of the conveyance transport apparatus, wherein theone or more processors are configured to infer rules from the databaseaccording to the manufacturer, the year, the frequency of use, theenvironmental exposure, the inspection history, the repair history, andthe work duration history of the conveyance transport apparatus.
 6. Thesystem of claim 2, wherein the GPS is used to identify the user as beingphysically within a predetermined distance from a location of theconveyance transport apparatus.
 7. The system of claim 2, wherein themaintenance input data is received from one or more sources selectedfrom the group comprising one or more union computing devices, insurancecomputing devices, technician computing devices, maintenance companycomputing devices, building owner computing devices, and governmentcomputing devices.
 8. The system of claim 2, wherein the database storesA17.1 maintenance control criteria and applicable rules of local, state,and federal law
 9. The system according to claim 2, wherein the at leastone notification is based on at least one violation citation, aparticular geographic area of the computing device of the user, and acurrent time and date for the user.
 10. The system according to claim 2,wherein the at least one notification is based on at least an upcomingmaintenance schedule for the conveyance transport apparatus.
 11. Anon-transitory computer readable medium storing a program withinstructions, provides a uniform conveyance maintenance systemcomprising: a transport system; the transport system having softwarewith one or more conditions; a computing system configured forcommunication between a plurality of users through one or more computingdevices, a server, and the transport system; a database on the server,in communication with the computing system, the database configured tostore maintenance input data of the transport system and track themaintenance input data in real time, the one or more conditions of thetransport apparatus translated into a format for the database using analgorithm; one or more non-transitory computer readable program storagemedia storing instructions to instruct one or more processors, incommunication with the computing system, wherein instructions areexecuted by the computing system are to perform receiving from a user auser identification; identifying an input conveyance type correspondingto input conveyance identification from a list of conveyance types inthe database; retrieving one or more archived parameters of the inputconveyance type from the database; categorizing a user based on at leastone user type of the user the categorization of the user stored on thedatabase wherein the processors check the database to determineauthorization level of the user based on the type of the user;categorizing the maintenance input data based on the at least one usertype of the user; authorizing access, over a network, accessibility tothe maintenance input data determined by the authorization level of theuser; generating one or more maintenance compliance data by an algorithmusing the input conveyance type, the maintenance input data, and the oneor more archived parameters of the input conveyance type; and store theone or more maintenance compliance data in the database.
 12. The systemof claim 11, wherein instructions are executed by the computing systemare to further perform: analyzing the maintenance compliance data in thedatabase associated with the user to determine one or more actions basedon at least the identified present location of the user and the usertype of the user; and generate at least one notification based on theone or more actions based on the maintenance compliance data, whereinthe notification is a violation enforcement, a license suspension, orceasing the operation of the transport system until the necessary workhas been performed.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein instructions areexecuted by the computing system are to further perform: populating acompliance form required by the jurisdiction based on at least theidentified present location of the transport system, wherein thecompliance form is stored in the database.
 14. The system according toclaim 13, wherein the at least one notification is based on at least oneviolation citation, one of the computing devices entering a particulargeographic area, and a current time and date for the user.
 15. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein instructions are executed by the computingsystem are to further perform: receiving electronic product coding atthe transport system, wherein the electronic product coding is used toidentify the user as being physically within a predetermined distancefrom a location of the transport system.
 16. The system of claim 15,wherein the GPS is used to identify the user as being physically withina predetermined distance from the location of the transport system. 17.The system of claim 16, wherein the maintenance input data is receivedfrom one or more sources selected from the group comprising one or moreunion computing devices, insurance computing devices, techniciancomputing devices, maintenance company computing devices, building ownercomputing devices, and government computing devices.
 18. The system ofclaim 17, wherein the database stores A17.1 maintenance control criteriaand applicable rules of local, state, and federal law, a manufacturer, ayear, a frequency of use, an environmental exposure, an inspectionhistory, a repair history, and a work duration history of the transportsystem, wherein the one or more processors are configured to infer rulesfrom the database according to: the manufacturer, the year, thefrequency of use, the environmental exposure, the inspection history,the repair history, and the work duration history of the transportsystem.